The Rest Of The Story: Melvin, Metternich And Weikal
The late Mike Royko, noted watchdog columnist from Chicago, once said he never messed up a good story with facts. I believe in that philosophy, too.
Here are some facts about this story: E. Ketner Weikal coached at Ashland High School for 16 years; Ben H. Metternich was manager of the Marathon Paper Mill in Ashland from 1931 until 1956; and Roy Melvin coached in Hurley for 19 years. These are facts. The rest of this article contains some facts, some fiction, and some of my beliefs.
I believe there was a connection between the above-named gentlemen; not that they were friends but due to the circumstances that developed.
E. K. Weikal had been coaching at Ashland High for some seven years when Metternich arrived in Ashland. Mr. Metternich had been associated with the Marathon paper corporation in central Wisconsin when he was transferred to Ashland to assume command of the paper mill here. Metternich was known to be a good administrator, an avid sports fan, and an enthusiast in outdoor recreation such as hunting and fishing.
Mr. Metternich became quite active in Ashland circles as a mover and shaker. He had a knack for arm-twisting. His paper mill was the leading employer in Ashland. He belonged to the Elks Club, was active in his church, headed several civic community activities, and was a good fund-raiser. Along the way he had a hand in forming a local semi-pro baseball team. In fact, when the Ashland A’s were formed in 1945, baseball players as far south as Texas were recruited for the Ashland ‘9’ and to them he provided jobs at his paper mill.
As a strong supporter of athletics at DePadua and Ashland High Schools, he could be seen at both gymnasiums rooting for the local teams. His presence didn’t necessarily mean that he was on good terms or chummy with the coaches. His interest was in the youth of Ashland and their welfare. His son, Jack, was a junior in high school when the family arrived. Jack played basketball and football for Coach Weikal.
It is a fact -- Jack revealed this to me -- that his Dad took him to Hurley on occasion to scout Roy Melvin’s Hurley Midgets. Maybe Jack thought it was to scout Hurley teams; my thought is that the visits were for the senior Metternich to scout Roy Melvin.
Roy Melvin high-schooled in Wausau and likewise for Metternich. The combination of the Wisconsin Valley two of Metternich and Melvin was a natural.
When Roy Melvin was hired to teach and coach at Hurley in 1923 neither Superintendent of Schools Murphy nor Principal Connors could imagine what success Melvin would bring. His coaching and innovations made an immediate impact with the youth of Hurley. Melvin showed immediately that his methods were a success and his athletes not only responded on the athletic field but in the classroom.
Meanwhile in Ashland, it was apparent that Ben Metternich was not fond of Mr. Weikal’s coaching abilities. It was not that Weikal did not enjoy some success on the court and on the gridiron, it was that staunch-supporter Metternich and Coach Weikal had a difference of personalities and opinion. Plus, Weikal was not from Wisconsin.
As a leading businessman in the community, Ben Metternich was well-respected. It was well-apparent that he had influence in the city of Ashland. From this corner, I believe that Metternich had tried for yours to influence the school board to either let Mr. Weikal go or find other employment for him.
Back in Hurley, Roy Melvin was the toast of the town. He was thought of very well by the community. Mining was the top employer in the 1930s in and around Hurley. The men who worked the mines in Pence, Gile, Cary and Montreal found their sons playing for Melvin.
Meanwhile, Melvin’s top salary as a coach was a mere $700 a year. Just before his final season -- 1941 -- in Hurley, Melvin bought a house. It appeared that he would stay in Hurley forever.
In Ashland, I believe that Ben Metternich finally had the school board in his pocket and convinced them to remove E. K. Weikal from his coaching duties. Due to the personality conflict between Ben Metternich and E. K. Weikal -- (my view) -- I believe that the school board listened to Mr. Metternich.
The Ashland School Board, in an unprecedented action in the spring of 1940, demoted Mr. Weikal from head coach to physical education instructor. This action, I believe, was partly to appease Mr. Metternich.
I wonder what went through Coach Weikal’s mind at this time? Overall, E. Ketner Weikal had a better than fair record at Ashland. His teams were 47-44-15 on the gridiron and in basketball they won 118 and lost 86. He took two basketball teams to the state tournament.
At the same time Mr. Weikal was demoted, the school board hired Lynn Hovland, recent grad from the University of Wisconsin, where he played tackle. Mr. Hovland is a non-entity in this equation, but just for the record his football teams won four, lost nine, and tied one. On the basketball court, he won 19 and lost 29. Hovland had good talent in Harley Bassford, John Drolson, Don Jensen, Lyle Johnson, Red Marx, Art Peterson, Red Nylen, Chet Olson, Frank Jocewicz, Al Melberg, Howie DeBriyan, Sam Armstrong, to name a few. He had the talent. He didn’t have the coaching ability.
After the two-year Hovland era, Ben Metternich was able to sway the school board into hiring Roy Melvin away from Hurley. My belief is that Metternich brokered the deal. I’m sure Mr. Metternich didn’t drive up to Coach Melvin’s house in Hurley with a Northern State Bank truck behind him. It was plain to see that for many years Metternich had coveted the talents of Mr. Melvin. The Ashland School Board more than doubled the salary he was receiving in Hurley. Maybe Mr. Metternich also was instrumental in obtaining a house in Ashland in which the Melvin family could live.
In early August of 1942 Coach Roy Melvin submitted his resignation to the Hurley School Board and accepted a similar position in Ashland. It was like a bombshell hit the communities of Hurley, Montreal, Pence, Cary and Gile. Here was Hurley on the verge of putting on the basketball court its best team ever: Don Dick, Jabs Moselle, Ted Thomas, Glen Stenman, et al, and the coach resigns to go to a rival school. Unbelievable! But true. Coach Melvin’s salary immediately jumped more than double the pay he was receiving in Hurley.
In his recent book, A Coach for All Seasons, Coach Melvin’s son, Stuart, says: “On August 21, 1942, the Montreal River Miner headline reported that "Melvin Resigns Hurley Post To Take Similar Position In Ashland."
I quote further from Stuart: “We were leaving Hurley! I couldn’t believe what Dad had done.”
Stuart was 10 years old at the time. Stuart quotes his Dad as saying: “No one will know how much I wanted to stay in Hurley this year, but the offer and opportunities at Ashland are much too good to turn down.”
There it is. Indeed, a raise in pay of over 100 percent would be hard to refuse.
In Ashland Stuart later played three years for his Dad as a guard on the cage squad and quarterbacked the football team for two years. It was seven years later when Stuart faced Hurley on the gridiron. Those Hurley boys were in the fifth grade when Melvin departed for Ashland but some were still rankled and trash-talked on the football field in 1949: “Get Melvin’s kid!”, some of the Hurley gridders yelled. They didn’t. Ashland’s defense took care of that.
Coach Roy Melvin stayed as coach in Ashland for nine years, making an immediate impact on the school’s athletic fortunes. Ben Metternich sat on the bench at football games and right behind the bench during basketball games. The early Melvin years in Ashland was the World War II era and commodities were hard to obtain, such as gum and cigarettes.
Melvin enjoyed both, with a passion. Entering his office in the Dodd Gym was like entering a dense fog. Ben Metternich had a hand in keeping Melvin supplied with the Wrigleys and the smokes. I’m not saying that Ben Metternich acted in any way improper. I am saying that he used his influence to bring to Ashland the coach that he wanted. In today’s world this happens yearly on campuses throughout the US of A. Money talks. And influence helps.
That’s my story -- believe it or not -- of how it (may have) happened.
im Goeltz grew up on his Dad's chicken farm in Ashland and graduated from Ashland High School in 1946. He wrote sports articles for the Ashland Daily Press from 1945 to 1948, attended Northland College, enlisted in the Army in December 1950 and retired in December 1980. He served in the Korean and Vietnam wars and spent 25 years overseas in places like Taiwan, Japan, Ethiopia, Iran, and Germany. He married his wife, Sheila, and they have three grown sons. They've resided in Council Bluffs, Iowa since 1982, where Sheila and Jim are avid volksmarchers.